For Microsoft Dynamics CRM business solutions that include an entity with a large dataset, record retrieval and grid rendering performance can be negatively impacted for users that do not have global access to all records associated with that entity. Code changes to mitigate this behavior first appeared in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, and have been fine-tuned since then.

With Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Update Rollup 10 and later, big advancements have been made to optimize the performance of queries against large datasets by adjusting specific “statistical” settings to address the issue. Should this fail to achieve desired levels of performance, adjust the value associated with EnableRetrieveMultipleOptimization (ERMO) setting. You may have heard these changes described at this year's Convergence.

A first step in efforts to optimize the performance of queries against large data sets is to make adjustments to the “statistical” settings that affect the behavior of RetrieveMultiple queries. Although you can configure these settings by modifying the Windows Registry (under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftMSCRM) on the each of the Web servers that is used in a deployment, we recommend that these settings be configured by using the OrgDbOrgSettings, which will ensure that the configuration applies to a specific organization. For additional information about configuring these settings by using the OrgDbOrgSettings, and to download the tool that makes the OrgDbOrgSettings changes you desire, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article titled "OrgDBOrgSettings Tool for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011" (KB 2691237)

If making adjustments to these settings does not yield satisfactory levels of performance, then consider adjusting the value of the EnableRetrieveMultipleOptimization (ERMO) setting. The ERMO setting is commonly used to limit the duration of certain long running queries; specifically, to overcome issues related to local or deep business unit access within Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 security roles.

Update Rollup 9 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 will not be released publically because of a delay in the Q2 Service Update, which was to be included in Update Rollup 9. For more details, see the blog "Q2 2012 Service Update – New delivery schedule"

Note regarding Podcasts: You can make our CRM Premier Field Engineering podcasts available on Zune by using the RSS feed below. In the Zune software, go to Collection -> Podcasts and click on the Add a Podcast button on the lower left, then enter the url for the RSS feed: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pfedynamics.rss. After that, you can adjust the series settings like any other podcast, so you can sync with your smartphone or Zune.

Feature Additions in Update Rollup 10, also available in Update Rollup 7 and 8!

Update Rollup 7 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 introduced a new feature known as Read Optimized Forms. Read Optimized Forms allow a user to quickly open a read-only copy of a record form. Read Optimized Forms improve performance for users who have high network latency and users who spend most of their time consuming information instead of editing. Form loads are faster because of the removal of the ribbon, navigation pane, web resources, and form scripting. However, you can still open the standard editable form if changes have to be made. The ability to default to using the Read Optimized Forms can be set at the Organization level, but is also controlled per user to meet individual needs. For more information about Read Optimized Forms, see "Customize Entity Forms in Microsoft Dynamics CRM"

Update Rollup 10 Build number:5.0.9690.2730

Note:

Update Rollup 10 can be uninstalled, unlike Update Rollups 4-6 which could not be uninstalled. However, you should always back up your databases and application servers before you install an Update Rollup.

Note:

Update Rollup 6 established a new servicing baseline. This will enable uninstalls of some future CRM 2011 Update Rollups, but this also means that Update Rollup 6 is prerequisite for installation of all future Microsoft CRM 2011 Update Rollups starting with Update Rollup 7.

Note:

A database created with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Update Rollup 6 or a higher version cannot be imported to a deployment of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Update Rollup 5 or an earlier version. This scenario is not supported. Best practice is to import databases or customizations between environments that are at the same Update Rollup level.

Note: As Update Rollup 10 is cumulative, containing all changes released in earlier Update Rollup releases, it also contains the Dynamics CRM Q4 Service Update features released via Update Rollup 5. Some of these features include:

Outlook Client Updates:

Enhancements to the Reading Pane

Asynchronous promotion for tracked emails

Dialog Enhancements

Data Visualization Enhancements:

Chart Designer Enhancements

New Chart Types

Data Management Enhancements to:

Auditing

Duplicate Detection

Activity Feeds

Listening in on important activities in Social Media that take place around the people, accounts, contacts, leads or opportunities that you care about, including a Windows 7.5 phone application: "Business Hub"

Update Rollup 5 does not install Activity Feeds:

New organizations on CRM Online will have this Solution automatically provisioned

Client packages installed manually by downloading the packages and running install will require local administrator privileges. If the client packages are installed via Microsoft Update or SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager), they will not require local administrator privileges

Consider using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or similar software distribution technologies to distribute Dynamics CRM Update Rollups internally. WSUS is a locally managed system that works with the public Microsoft Update website to give system administrators more control. By using Windows Server Update Services, administrators can manage the distribution of Microsoft hotfixes and updates released through Automatic Updates to computers in a corporate environment

Do you want to know if certain Service Packs or versions of a Microsoft product are supported with Dynamics CRM? Now we have all of this in one “living" Knowledge Base article: the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Compatibility List. For example, you can use this KB article to determine the latest Microsoft SQL Server major version and Service Pack that is supported. Microsoft lists new products like Internet Explorer 10 and Microsoft Windows 8 as TBD until testing is complete; generally near General Availability (GA) of that product.

Issues resolved via Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Update Rollups:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Update Rollup 10 is the tenth (or ninth, considering that Update Rollup 9 was not released publicly) of a series of cumulative Update Rollups that include fixes for the issues that are or will be documented in the "Master Knowledge Base Articles" for CRM 2011 Update Rollups. As they are cumulative, Update Rollup 10 contains all fixes shipped via Update Rollups 1-10, including fixes that were never publicly released via Update Rollup 9.

Hotfixes and updates that were released as individual fixes before Update Rollup 10 release:

The following issues were fixed and delivered to requesting customers prior to Update Rollup 10 release as Critical On Demand (COD) fixes:

When you create mail merge templates on related entities, such as the Account, Lead, Contact, Opportunity and Case entities, current user fields that are selected additionally are not displayed

Assume that you register a Microsoft Dynamics CRM plug-in that works on the predefined state of an entity that can be deactivated. The plug-in may cancel the reactivation of certain records in certain situation. The plug-in cancels the record reactivation by displaying an exception error from the Execute method. However, after the exception error information is displayed, the end-user form and ribbon remain open and editable. In this situation, changes can be made and saved unexpectedly

Assume that you try to import a solution that converts unmanaged components to managed. If the managed solution contains entity maps, the solution import fails. Additionally, you receive an error message that resembles the following:

Assume that an email template is owned by a team. When a user who is assigned to the team browses to the Email Template lookup window, the email template is not visible

When you enable connections for certain entities, the relationships that enable the connections are not created. Therefore, the connections do not work for the entities. For the business unit entity, the connection does not work after you install Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Update Rollup 4. For entities where connections are not enabled out of the box, and for entities that have relationships to the connections, the connections do not work

Assume that an Internet-facing deployment (IFD) is configured for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. You sign out from a Dynamics CRM session. In this situation, when you try to click the most-recently used button from another Dynamics CRM session, a windows authentication dialog box is opened unexpectedly

Assume that you register a plug-in that may display an exception error. When you try to track an email message in Microsoft Office Outlook, Outlook crashes

Assume that a meeting request is tracked in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. After you accept the meeting request, and then you perform a synchronization, the meeting request is untracked unexpectedly

When you receive a meeting request that is tracked in Microsoft Dynamics CRM by the organizer, the BusyStatus state is changed from Tentative to Busy even though the appointment is not accepted by the attendee

When you enable connections for an entity, you experience the following problems:

The IsConnectionsEnabled bit is set to true

Two relationships are created between the connection and the entity. The relationships point to the Record1Id and Record2Id fields of the Connection entity

You cannot disable the Track in CRM buttons and the Track in CRM shortcut menu entry unexpectedly. However, the Track in CRM buttons and shortcut menu entry should have a configurable option

When you try to import an updated managed solution, you receive the following error message:

This problem occurs when the managed solution will add the first currency attribute to a managed entity that is already owned by the solution publisher

When you specify a custom enable rule for a ribbon control that uses a Jscript type web resource, the Jscript library is not cached

When an email message in the rich text format is received in Microsoft Dynamics CRM through E-mail Router, the body of the email message is not processed correctly to show embedded images that are attached. When you see the body of the email message, the alternative text for an HTML image tag is displayed where the pictures should be

When you click a link on a Microsoft Dynamics CRM webpage for an organization, an incorrect webpage is displayed.This problem occurs when the link is for a website where the root path has the same name as the organization or the URL is for some other organization in the same CRM deployment

@ Roger – TBD on the CRM Online story, I don't have much visibility into that. I work with a few Online customers but my focus is on the On-Premise version.

As I mentioned in my podcast this morning, keep an eye on the "Microsoft Dynamics CRM Compatibility List":

support.microsoft.com/…/2669061 – per product, it has hyperlinks to underlying Knowledge Base articles that describe the nature of support / compatibility for these new products as of CRM 2011 Update Rollup 10:

@Jose – the error message you're receiving is a "MissingMethodException" indicating that your DLL's are not properly in sync (the calling DLL is looking for a function that doesn't exist in the target dll – meaning the versions are likely mismatched). Either the update rollup failed to install properly, the dll update was skipped, or there is an old version of the DLL in the GAC. First off, I would make sure you remove all Microsoft.Crm dll’s from the GAC as this is not required and can cause issues like you’re seeing. Second, I would try installing UR10 one more time to make sure everything is installed properly, you can check the version numbers of the organizations in deployment manager and check the version numbers of the DLL's in file explorer. Finally, if all else fails I would either: contact Support for assistance or run a repair on CRM 2011 and re-patch to make sure you have all the files in place.

@ Eric – THANKS. I had seen the issue pop up in the Forums several times already, and have informed the Sustained Engineering team. So, a fix is in the works. For now, the workaround is to publish the JavaScript from Visual Studio, or upload a text file, etc.

We experienced issues where Outlook would no longer open after the patch was applied. We saw the following errors in a CRM diagnostic trace on the system. We had to uninstall the RU10 to get folks back online.

@Arpita, @Jose, & @Jaimie – please do not register the DLL's in the GAC, most likely you've somehow deleted or replaced a version of a CRM platform DLL with an older version or a version the installer was not expecting thus it will skip patching the file. When you add it to the GAC you'll give the platform one more place to find the right version – but in the next UR you may run into the same issue again and be in a worse position than you are now. To properly address this you have a couple options:

1. Open a support ticket – support has a utility they can run that will report the various DLL versions and can help you identify which DLL is incorrect. If you're engaged with PFE/Premier we can assist as well.

2. Find the DLL's yourself by looking in each folder and adding the version number to the display of the detailed explorer view

3. The final option is to run a repair of CRM to reset the DLL versions.

If you have your CRM DLL's in the GAC – remove them so that there are no version mismatches or conflicts.

It appears that Rollup 10 has killed the 2007 CRM Discovery Service endpoints used by many third party products in organizations using IFD on a secured site. Any idea if a workaround exists for us to keep using these products without uninstalling Rollup 10?

For those of you who have installed RU10 and Outlook instantly crashes, there is a known issue with RU10 and SQL CE 4.0. It mostly affects people in terminal server (e.g. Citrix) environments where the servers are running SQL CE 4.0. I burned a support ticket to find out it was a known (but not publicly released) issue. The bigger problem is that Microsoft is not planning on publicly announcing a fix for this so I'm not sure yet how to get the new patch. They apparently have some "large" customers who cannot install RU10 becuase of the SQL CE 4.0 problem so they are working on a fix. In the mean time, leave RU8 in place. Its a good thing they have large customers complaining or the fix would probably come in the next major RU.